Daily Drinker – ARRUMACO Verdejo, Vino de Espana, 2013

The Person:
Dan Kravitz, founder and picker of Hand Picked Selections, the importer and blender of this wine.

The Place:
Northwestern Spain

The Story:
My friend Dan Kravitz is that rare guy in the wine distribution business who is actually good at blending wines. A lot of folks who distribute and sell wine think they are talented blenders (I used to fancy that I was; I now know better). Sometimes these wannabes get lucky, but most of the time when they get-it-right, there’s a skilled professional winemaker at their elbow. Dan is that rare guy who consistently comes up with great blends that the winemaking professionals often acknowledge are better than what they came up with. He is the motive force behind the Penya (Cotes Catalan) and Le Noble (VdP d’Oc) wines (among others) and is behind these Arrumaco wines. Wines? Right now we only have this $6.99 white but a super Rosé (also $6.99 and which you should definitely be on-the-lookout-for) is on the way. For his Arrumaco label, Dan works with Bodegas Gallegas, a very large producer in Northwestern Spain to blend this wine specifically for the US market from a number of different lots of Verdejo they have. He is not the wine maker but rather the wine blender – and in this case, the blender makes all the difference.

The Wine:ARRUMACO Verdejo, Vino de Espana, 2013 ($6.99)
A 12% alcohol, 100% Verdejo with no oak and no malo-lactic. Straw colored with good legs; dry, medium-light-bodied with refreshing acidity. Delicious, fresh, and juicy, this is a lovely citrus and tropical fruit white with a hints of spice and mineral and freshness to spare. Very clean. A great quaff and an incredible value. BearScore: 89+. (We had this at home last night with gazpacho and a Greek salad.)